A U.S. Senator from Missouri has led several colleagues to introduce a resolution that would help American companies continue to ship through the Panama Canal without influence from the Chinese government.

China has fired back at President Donald Trump, dismissing his claim that Beijing has seized control of the Panama Canal as baseless and provocative. Newsweek reached out by email to a Trump representative and to Hutchison Ports, a Hong Kong–based port operator that controls ports near the canal, for comment.

Panama has owned and administered the Panama Canal for nearly three decades. President Trump wants to change that to counter growing Chinese influence in Latin America.

The new Secretary of State already has said the Hong Kong-based operator of Panama Canal-adjacent ports could be a “big national security and defense problem.”

Rubio’s Latin American trip highlights the region’s importance to U.S. national security and immigration crisis.

Republicans hoping to thwart Beijing’s influence in Latin America are urging the Panamanian government to cut ties with Chinese entities.

Trump's canal claims would undermine U.S.-Panama relations, boost China's influence, and revive regional tensions, harming both countries' interests, two experts argued

In his speech, Trump said the U.S. will attempt to reassert control over the Panama Canal, claiming that China is giving preferential treatment over the crucial waterway bridging the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino says his nation intends to maintain control of the Panama Canal, after President Trump re-upped his intent to take control of the strategic waterway in his inaugural address.

Marco Rubio will head overseas late next week; he's also scheduled to visit Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

China got only one mention in US President Donald Trump's inaugural address on Monday, but the comment was threatening - especially to a country much closer to America. Suggesting that China's operations in the Panama Canal constituted a degree of ownership of the Central American waterway,